- What is your national identity? How do you, personally, define it?
- What does it mean to be American? Do you consider yourself a hyphen-American?
- If you moved, after what experiences or how many years would you become another nationality?
- Does citizenship matter in defining nationality?
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Eavan Boland Response
For today's class, everyone read a chapter entitled "In Search of a Nation" from Irish poet Eavan Boland's book Object Lessons. We discussed her quest to figure out what it means to be Irish, and what defines Irish national heritage. The students then blogged a response to the questions below pertaining to their own national identities. Please enjoy their reflections under "comments."
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- I am American. I define my nationality as the place that I was born and the culture that I was brought up in.
ReplyDelete- To be American is to live in or be born in the United States, living by the rules and laws of the US government and being culturally connected with the every day life of the American people. I do not consider myself a hyphen-American.
- I don't think there are any specific determinations on when you would become another nationality other then those of government requirements and personal opinions. I think that once you feel completely connected and enveloped in another nation's culture, then you can consider yourself that nationality. But it does take a long time.
- Yes I think that citizenship plays an important role in nationality.
I think that citizenship plays an important role in nationality because it is the country that you are technically dedicated to. It is often the country that you take pride in representing or call your home. You often have the strongest connection to the country in which you are a citizen.
DeleteMy national identity is that I am American. I live in America, and have all my life. America is where I am from. I define national identity as where people are from, where they were born and where they have lived the majority of their life (if not all their life). In my opinion, being an American means living in America and calling it your home. If I moved to another part of the world, I'm not sure I would become another nationality. I would say that I have partaken in many Irish (or German, Italian etc.) experiences, but I would never consider myself to be that nationality. I would always consider myself to be American. I was born and raised in America, so I am always going to be American. I think that citizenship does matter in defining nationality to a certain extent. I am an American citizen, born and raised in America. Therefore, I am American. However, people can move to America from another country and after a certain amount of years, become an American citizen. If I moved to Ireland, and became a citizen of Ireland, I would still call myself an American because thats where I was born and raised.
ReplyDeleteTo be American, to me, it means that I, and my entire family, have grown up in America. I may have Irish, Scottish, and English roots but that doesn't define me just because I don't carry out any traditions directly from those other nationalities. I am "American", and I don't consider myself a hyphen-American. I think this is because English is my first language and the only language spoken at home and in my life. Also, my life is modeled after other Americans and we are like other families that live in the United States. Our traditions are similar if not the same as other people in the United States. If I moved,becoming that nationality would take a great amount of years. I would have to come to a point where when I thought back to memories 5 or 10 years before, they would be of that new place. I would have to have a sense of that place and speak that language and completely mold to the new nation. I think in most cases, to establish nationality, one would also have citizenship of that country. But if, for example, an immigrant without citizenship from South America comes to America and has a baby who knows nothing but American culture and considers themselves "American"- then I think citizenship doesn't matter in defining nationality.
ReplyDeleteMy national identity is American and I would define myself as American because this is where I have lived and I haven't spent a significant amount of time in any other country.
ReplyDeleteBeing American to me, doesn't mean that much besides that I was raised here. I know that I am scottish too because my grandparents went on a trip to Scotland and told me about my ancestors but I don't go around saying Im scottish unless someone asks. I have never been there and I don't know too much about my ancestors.
If I moved at this point in my life I think I would always say that I am American even if I live/ have lived in this new place for a long time. Maybe my children or their children wouldn't but I would forever be an American.
I don't think citizenship matters when defining nationality. Going back to my previous answer.. If I moved to say.. France, and became a citizen there I would still call myself an American because thats where I was raised.
My nationality is both American and Irish (I'm a dual citizen). I define my national identity as the place that I was born and the culture that I was taught.
ReplyDeleteTo be American is to be a citizen of the United States. I consider myself Irish-American.
I don't think there are a certain number of years you must live in a country to become another nationality, I think it just depends on when you get citizenship or become familiar with the culture.
Citizenship does matter in determining nationality.
I consider myself a white American. I was born in the United States, but just like many other Americans I have ancestors that came from different countries around the world. I am Irish, Italian, and French Canadian. To be an American means to have some distinct connection to America. Whether it is being born here, living here for an extended period of time, or having family that originated in America. I think to be an American you have to immerse youself in the cultural aspects that are a part of America today. Things like going to school in America really delve a person in to the culture or America. Living here for an extended period of time, you learn what it is to be an American. I think it is tough to explain what being an American is because we all came from different places and backgrounds, but we are all part of one nation. If you travel to any large American city there is so much diversity that I cont think you could pin point one thing that makes a person American. Things like voting and taking part in your community makes you an American. If I moved to a new place right now I dont think after any amount of years I could consider myself a different nationality than what I already am. There would be cultural things in a new place that would make me feel like i belonged to that place, but I dont think I would necessarily become that nationality. I dont think becoming a citizen somewhere would make me that nationality. I think that because I have been raised in America I will always have nationality there. America is a melting pot. people have been emigrating to America since the day it was found. People can call their nationality American when they come here, but I dont think I could go to another country and claim it as my nationality. I could assimilate into another country and feel like I belong there, but my nationality will always be American with ancestors from Ireland, Italy, and French Canada.
ReplyDeleteMy national identity is American. I have spent my entire life in this country and am a citizen. I have never been a part of any other nationality and therefore define myself as American. To be American is to have the freedom to do what you like and to think what you like. These are the most important aspects to being American for me and define what it means to be American. I consider myself to be solely American as I do not have another prevalent identity in my family other then American. I do not think that I would ever become another nationality no matter the time I spent in another culture. If I moved to another country, I would acclimate to their traditions, cultures, and language, but I would never lose the part of me that spent 18 years in America as an American. Nationality to me is defined as where you have lived throughout your childhood. If you have lived in a country your entire life, and not experience any other culture, that one culture will define you.
ReplyDeleteMy national identity is American. I was born here, and have lived here my entire life. Even though I am also Irish and Lithuanian, I consider my national identity to be American. I define national identity as a place where you were born, lived for a long period of time, or practice the customs of the people there. To be American means to have lived here, under the government in place. This may not be correct but I also consider being American to know what the country has fought for to get to the place it is in today, and to be proud to live here and call yourself American. I do not consider myself a hyphen-American. If I moved to anther country I don't know if I would ever consider myself that nationality at this point in my life. Once being any nationality, I think that stays with you for your whole life."Becoming" another nationality can only come with time. I think citizenship matters in defining nationality. Having citizenship does mean that you are living by the rules set in place by the government. However, you can be a citizen of a country and not consider yourself that national identity.
ReplyDelete